


three little words

by OnlyMyThoughtsForCompany



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Angst, Declarations Of Love, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I'll add more tags as i go, Kinda, M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-08-07 08:17:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16404710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnlyMyThoughtsForCompany/pseuds/OnlyMyThoughtsForCompany
Summary: a series of way Matt Casey and Kelly Severide say they love each other without actually using those three little words





	1. "Pull over.  Let me drive for a while"

“Twenty.”

It was the first time either of them had spoken since leaving the funeral, and Casey almost missed the muttered word.  It came from beside him, where Severide was driving. He blinked at the countryside whizzing past, and glanced over to find his boyfriend clenching the wheel with white knuckles.

“What’s that, babe?”

Severide didn’t seem to hear him, or if he did, he showed no sign of it.  “He was twenty years old,” he continued, still in an undertone. “Twenty!”  The last word was loud in the otherwise quiet car but Casey didn’t flinch. Even when Severide thumped the wheel with his fist, and tears began to line his eyes, he just took the outburst in calmly.  Severide glanced over and met his boyfriend's eyes, just for a second before he has to look back at the road. “He was just a kid,” he said, and this time it’s a whisper.

The kid was Rory Davis, the youngest in a long line of firefighters, who’d given his life in a gargantuan blaze that had ripped through Chicago’s industrial district for an entire weekend.  Almost every station in the city had responded, but they’d been lucky and had only lost the one man, not that that made them feel any better.

The turn out for the funeral had been massive, friends, family, city officials, almost the entire CFD all crammed into the church to pay respect for the young man who’d given his life.  Casey himself had spent the better part of the trip home trying to get the image of the kid’s service photo, projected on a large screen near the altar, out of his head. But he could see it was tearing Severide apart twice as much, probably because his squad and the kid’s truck company had been working the same building when they’d lost him.

So, knowing that there was nothing he could say to make Severide feel better, Casey said the one thing he could.  “Pull over. Let me drive for a while.”

There was only a moment’s hesitation on Severide’s part before he jerked the car sharply over to the side of the road, and came to an abrupt stop.  The few cars on the road with them went whizzing past, racing for the city in the distance. Severide shoved open the door and Casey followed suit, passing each other in front of the bumper.  He wanted to reach for his obviously distraught boyfriend, especially when he saw the tears streaming down his cheeks, but sensed that it wouldn’t be well received.

So he got behind the wheel without another word, and pulled slowly back out into traffic, leaving Severide to fling an arm across his face while he regained his composure.  It was only a few minutes later that Casey felt a hand on his thigh, squeezing gently, and he took a hand off the wheel, and dropped it to twine their fingers together.


	2. “I saw this and thought of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tiny bit of context that probably doesn't matter, casey recently came out as bi just before this fic.

Severide burst through the door of his apartment, strode into the living area where Casey and Darden were cloistered away, studying for an upcoming exam, and slapped his bounty down with a triumphant grin.  He’d been out running a few errands when he’d seen it in the post office and had been unable to resist.

“I saw this and thought of you.”

Pretty blue eyes emerged from behind the textbook, and Severide ignored the accompanying clench of his stomach and the uptick of his heart that had become the norm recently.  Casey let loose an exaggerated sigh and set his textbook aside so he could pick up the gift, and even Darden leaned over to have a look.

Whatever Severide had expected Casey’s reaction to be, it certainly hadn’t been the quirk of his eyebrows and the slow unfurl of a smirk across his face.  Casey glanced up at him, expression wickedly curious.

“You saw the ‘2000 CFD Calendar’...” Casey paused to deliberately glance back down and check the wording.  “‘12 shades of steamy’ and thought of me?”

Yeah, Severide had definitely not thought this all the way through.

Darden let out a strangled noise from the other armchair and Casey’s smirk grew.

“Well, ummm” Severide floundered.  He glanced to Darden for help, but his best friend was useless, pressing his lips tightly together as if to physically contain the laughter.  “I don’t- Are you telling me you don’t appreciate the guys in there? They’re quite fit.”

Casey tilted his head as if conceding the point, before heaven help him, actually started flipping through the calendar to appreciate the men in all their near naked glory.  Severide gritted his teeth when Casey paused on July, and the young blonde who was shamelessly straddling a hose with a filthy grin, hoping that Casey didn’t notice the resemblance, unlike Severide.

“Still, you saw a calendar of hot, shirtless men, and decided to buy it for me, your male friend?”

“Yeah, Kelly,” Darden piped up suddenly.  “That is interesting, don’t you think?”

Severide cut him a hard glare, hoping it fully expressed how much Darden was not helping in this situation.  Whether it did or didn’t, Darden just grinned his familiar trouble-maker’s smile and sat back to listen unabashedly.

“You’re always worrying that you’re going to miss a class or an exam, so I thought you might benefit from a calendar.  And we’re joining the CFD, of course, I saw it and thought of you.”

“And maybe Kelly thought it was something you could strive for,” Darden added innocently.

If looks could kill, Andy surely would have been dead ten times over from the daggers Severide was shooting from his eyes.  He glanced back at Casey, hoping his friend would focus on the kind sentiments attached to the gift rather than reading too far into it.

“Thanks, Kelly,” Casey said, and stood gathering up the calendar and his books.  “This will be really helpful, and it was certainly… enlightening.”

Severide managed to keep his face straight until Casey had disappeared into his bedroom, the door clicking shut behind him, and they heard his music turn on.  Then his expression fell into a grimace as he groaned.

“Do you think he knows?”

Darden flicked a page of his textbook idly.  “What? That you’re desperately in love with him?  Nah, probably not.” There was a beat of silence. “He knows you want to screw him though.”

Severide threw up his hands in frustration, and stomped into his room, slamming the door shut behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys
> 
> so i'm a total idiot and actually finished this chapter ages ago and then forgot to post it. yup i'm just that smart. anyway idk if this is exactly "i love you" but it amused me so here you go.
> 
> i really hope you like it and i'm sorry it took so long. don't forget to comment and let me know what you thought.

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo, guess who's starting a new writing challenge. Yup this bitch. So this fic will be a series of ways Sevasey say they love each other without actually saying I love you, based on a prompt list I found online. There will be 100 chapters, updated whenever I write them. And they will probs be 500 words or less. Kinda like little flash ficlets. Anyway enjoy, favourite, and comment :)


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